The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.
That bill in Michigan that gives licensure to freaking naturopaths? We are not pleased.
“This bill is dangerous because it legitimizes fake medicine,” said Jennifer Beahan, executive director of CFI Michigan. “It would give the state’s blessing to unqualified practitioners of pseudoscience and their baseless remedies, meaning more people will waste their money and risk their health by pursuing quack treatments.”
The NFL says that players who kneel during the national anthem will face punishment for themselves and their teams. President Trump is happy about this, telling some risible television semi-personality, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem. Or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”
If you disagree with the president, you can tell him so on Twitter, and if he blocks you he is apparently violating the Constitution, according to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald.
The Post reports on an internal White House memo in which officials try to decide whether to ignore climate science research or actually come up with some fact-based position of their own. “[The memo] did not consider touting federal scientists’ findings.” You don’t say.
Bertha Vazquez, director of our Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science, denounces Arizona’s draft science standards that remove mentions of evolution or frame it as “just a theory”:
Why would the leaders of a US state deny this knowledge to their own children? How can Arizona compete in this global economy without knowledgeable young people who can lead the way with the innovations of the 21st century? After all, these innovations can only become reality through scientific discovery and new technology. The changes to the state standards will surely handicap Arizona ‘s students.
The third defamation suit is filed against Alex Jones by families of Sandy Hook massacre victims.
The Oregon high school principle who enabled the harassment of LGBTQ students and forced them into Bible study, Bill Lucero, has been “removed from his job,” along with school resource officer Jason Griggs.
Joe Nickell gives us a look at Píso’s Cure for Consumption, a “cure” in which the ingredients seemed to matter less its claims:
Píso’s Cure originally contained opium—a drug regarded with revulsion because returning Civil War veterans were often addicted, having been treated with opiates for the pain of their wounds. By 1872, anticipating Congress’ ban on opium derivatives in patent medicines, Píso’s hucksters dropped those ingredients from its formula; however, they retained cannabis, chloroform, and alcohol—while not listing them on the label. Píso’s “cured” nothing, only giving the purchaser the illusion of getting better by making him feel better.
By dragging its feet on dealing with Paige Patterson (allegations of abuse, rape, and overall horrid behavior), Jonathan Merritt shows how the Southern Baptist leadership is being cowardly and hypocritical:
Many of the secular communities in America that Southern Baptists have painted as evil possess more moral courage than they do. Consider that for a moment and it will tell you all you need to know about the current state of America’s largest Protestant denomination.
If someone drops a nuke near you, here are some of the things your government will tell you, including:
Cover your nose and mouth… Don’t touch objects or debris related to the release… Go inside and stay inside.
Quote of the Day
Spanish actor Willy Toledo is accused of blasphemy and ordered to go before a judge to answer for his “crime.” Javier Bardem is coming to Toledo’s defense, saying the charge represents “a setback that harks back to the era of Franco.” According to the AFP:
Toledo, 48, has refused to appear before the judge after being summoned over a Facebook message in which he defended three women tried for blasphemy after they paraded in the southern city of Sevilla with a giant vagina, simulating a religious procession. … “I shit on god, and I have enough shit left over to shit on the dogma of ‘the sanctity and virginity of the Virgin Mary’,” Toledo, a cinema and television actor, wrote on Facebook.
Here’s our quote of the day, from Toledo:
I haven’t committed any offense and so there is no need to appear before a judge.
¡Caída del micrófono!
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